


Pretty Face

by agronthegerman



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Blind Character, Blindness, Burns, Disfigurement, Hurt!Eames, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-28
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 08:40:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1157527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agronthegerman/pseuds/agronthegerman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After running up gambling debts that he cannot pay back, Jack Eames suffers a horrendous acid attack that leaves him completely blind and the pretty face he'd always relied on destroyed. Arthur Levine can't just stand back and do nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretty Face

The job was done. They had been victorious; Cobb had walked out of LAX, barely even noticing the team as he walked closer and closer toward his children. Fischer didn’t even as much as look at most of them as he spoke on his cellphone, totally oblivious to the last ten hours that had changed everything about his future.

Adrienne was on the first flight to Halifax, she’d figured it would be a good time to go and stay with her family for a few weeks before heading back to France, let the reality of what had just happened sink in. Saito, now the CEO of the world’s only and most powerful energy company was on the first flight back to Tokyo and flying with the airline he had purchased only a few days before.

That left Arthur, Eames and Yusuf standing in LAX with their baggage, unsure of where to go or what to do next.

Arthur had figured that Eames and Yusuf would be on the flight to Nairobi and then onto Mombasa but he found his assumptions to be proven false as Eames strutted up to him, pushing his luggage trolley.

“Fancy sharing a cab into the city? Yusuf’s waiting on a flight to London but I’m gonna lay low for a little bit.”

Arthur, knowing he wouldn’t need to find another job immediately now Saito had left a hefty sum in his bank account, just shrugged and picked up his bag as he followed Eames to the taxi rank.. Eames began loading his bags into the trunk of the cab and Arthur instead got into the back, putting his bag in the middle, putting space between himself and Eames who also climbed in. He looked at Arthur with a grin as he pulled his seatbelt on.

“Remember when we were last in a cab, darling?”

“Keep your damn voice down!” Arthur hissed, too exhausted to deal with Eames’s teasing.  

Eames just smiled and looked down the window; Arthur ignored the blush that had appeared upon his cheeks as he remembered himself screaming out Eames’s name during the shooting. Knowing that there was probably a reason why he said only Eames’s name and not the others, he chose to ignore those thoughts.  

The two men ended up in a nice part of Los Angeles and checked into what was probably an overpriced hotel. Arthur was a little bemused as he pushed his key into the slot and opened his hotel room door. There was really no need for him to be in a hotel room which was in the same building as the one Eames had checked into. There was really no need for him to even be in Los Angeles; Cobb wouldn’t be taking any jobs anytime soon now that he was reunited with Phillipa and James. Arthur sighed as he dumped his duffel down on the mattress, he needed a sleep. A dreamless one.

Eames sighed as he looked at his laptop; the emails and the phonecalls were getting more frequent now. All three of his accounts and all four of his cell phones. He knew he was in over his head but he was pretty confident that the payment from the inception job would tide them over until he could muster up the rest. He knew that he couldn’t be complacent towards this, these people were dangerous. Incredibly dangerous when you owed them money to the point where a set of broken knee caps was considered a blessing. He pushed the thoughts out of his head as he shut the laptop and headed into the bathroom, turning the shower on.

By the time Arthur woke from his dream free sleep, he realized that he hadn’t eaten since before the flight. His stomach was rumbling and he didn’t feel like calling room service and spending the rest of the evening in cooped up inside the hotel room. Instead he got dressed, fixed his hair until it was neatly combed back and grabbed his jacket.

He was about to knock on Eames’s room door but the sound of the man talking loudly on the phone was enough to stop him. He knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t help himself from instead listening to what the Englishman was saying on what he assumed what over the phone

_‘What’d you mean that’s not enough?! I worked my bloody arse off for that!’_

_‘Look I just need a little more time to get the rest, please, just a few more weeks? Please’_

He realized he really shouldn’t be eavesdropping as he heard the sound of desperation in Eames’s voice. It was clear the forger was in some kind of trouble and Arthur felt like rolling his eyes. Eames’s was always bringing trouble with him wherever he went. It just seemed to follow him around, or he looked for it. He’d considered walking away and calling room service but instead found himself knocking on the door.

Eames’s had changed from the modest yet sharp suit he had on the flight and was back in his usual flamboyant style. Everything from the tan suit and pink paisley shirt, hair was carefully combed over and he looked up and smiled at Arthur as if he wasn’t just yelling down the phone.

“Arthur, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

It kind of amazed Arthur how good Eames’s was at his job, always able to put on the cocky carefree front everyone knew him for. Able to forge and pretend even when he wasn’t directly on the job.

“I was wondering if you wanted to grab some dinner. I haven’t eaten since the flight and I’m starving.”

Eames’s smiled again. “Of course, let me just grab my room key and I’ll be with you in a jiffy.”

They ended up in a relatively low key restaurant and sat in a small booth as they waited for their meals. The waitress gave Eames her best giggle and began blushing as he looked up at her and gave her his typical charm offensive. Eames was on his first scotch as Arthur sipped on his glass of water.

“So, this is a surprise Arthur darling, I thought after the Fischer job you’d be jumping on the next job straight away. You don’t strike me as the vacation type.”

Arthur scoffed. “In spite what you may think Eames, I am not a robot. Besides, Cobb is going to be out of the game now and the money from the Fischer job is more than enough to keep us comfortable, right?”

Eames didn’t immediately respond it only lasted a second but Arthur swore he saw a flicker of panic in Eames’s eyes; of course this was instantly covered by the typical crooked grin he wiped across his face.

“Of course. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Eames’s chuckled _._ “I’m thinking of Vegas, you are more than welcome to join me, always good to have a lucky charm when you hit the slots you know.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I have no interest in gambling away my savings Mr Eames. Besides, I thought you’d be eager to head back to your hideout in Mombasa.”

Eames scoffed. “Nah, too much sand, too much sodding sun. Besides, I told you I’m laying low till I find another job. Or maybe I will just go to Vegas, triple the Fischer money.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“The idiot who _you_ asked out to dinner, got to tell you Arthur on our second date I expect a little more roses and chocolates.”

“Shut up.”

They ate in comfortable silence; Arthur however now definitely knew that Eames must be in a pretty big amount of debt when his dinner of mostly salad with a few pieces of grilled chicken came instead of his usual steak. Either that or he was watching his weight, but what he saved in ordering food he spent in alcohol. But something was definitely fishy. Eames was never one to not order the most expensive steak on the menu.

When they asked for the bill, Arthur didn’t hesitate to take out his card.

“Dinner’s on me okay? To a job well done.”

“I am perfectly capable of paying for my own meal, darling.”

“No Eames honestly its fine-

“I said I’d pay. This isn’t a date Arthur and if it was I’d be paying for us both so would you just-

“No! We both know you need that money Eames.”

Eames paused and looked at Arthur like Arthur had just insulted one of his pink paisley patterned ties. “Excuse me?”

“I heard you; on the phone in the hotel...I know you owe money to someone.” Arthur looked down, feeling slightly ashamed at his eavesdropping earlier in the evening.

“You don’t know anything, Mr Levine. I do not need charity from Dominic Cobb’s lapdog, thank you very much.”

A flash of anger went through Arthur. He knew that Eames’s knew that Arthur’s greatest pet peeve was when clients or team members treated him like he was Cobb’s sidekick and not a point man in his own right.  It was a low blow and one where Eames knew it would hit Arthur where it hurt.

“Actually, _Mr Eames_ , it appears that you fucking do need charity, a few more weeks you need huh? Already given them the whole Fischer job payout? So you expect to find a job, forge a subject, do a successful extraction and achieve a large lump of cash in a few fucking weeks? Not to even mention why you are in debt in the first place, let me take a wild guess; gambling debts right?”

Eames was silent. Looking up at Arthur with pure shame written across his face, Arthur didn’t need to ask twice.

Arthur shook his head again. “Oh Jesus fucking Christ Eames! How much of an idiot can one person be? How much?”

“That is none of your-

“How goddamn much Eames?”

Eames bowed his head. “Alot.”

Arthur was angry now, how could Eames have been so stupid? “And I take it you can’t afford to pay them back right? You know what? I can just picture it now, you at the poker table, toothpick between your lips and that shit eating grin. You may be a pretty face Eames, but that’s all you fucking are and you should learn to keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut!”

Arthur immediately regretted saying those words when he looked at Eames, the genuine hurt wasn’t very well hidden in the angry expression Eames was giving him. And Arthur found himself both a little frightened that Eames would leap over the table and punch him, and he felt embarrassment  swirl at the bottom of his stomach too, never had he used the word ‘Pretty’ in such a way before. Eames was practically seething as he took a final gulp on his Scotch before banging it back down on the table.

_“Fuck you.”_ He muttered under his breath. “Pay for the bloody meal or don’t. I’m going for a fucking piss.”

Eames sighed as he leaned over the sink in the bathrooms and splashed some cold water on his face. He looked up at the mirror and actually studied himself, feeling Arthur’s words swirl around in his head.

_‘You may be a pretty face Eames, but that’s all you fucking are’_

_‘How much of an idiot can one person be?’_

_‘You should learn to keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut!’_

He wished he’d taken Arthur’s advice. He was a complete fucking idiot. He studied himself again. He was a pretty face. That much was true. In fact his appearance had given him advantages in areas where he himself wouldn’t feel comfortable admitting out loud. Women smiled at him with a blush upon their cheeks as they handed him his plane ticket, room key or whatever else. Heck, even some men did too. He was respected yet admired. Even Adrienne, who he was pretty sure had a school girl crush on Cobb, giggled at his unfunny jokes and stared intently at his thick lips as he spoke. Yes, he was a pretty face. And it was slightly strange that the ever asexual, robotic, monotone Arthur picked up on Eames’s physical appearance, even saying that that is all he was, was the point man right?

Before Eames’s could satisfy himself with an answer, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder.

He turned around.

_“This is what happens when people don’t fuckin’ pay up.”_

Splash.

He wished there had been a noise.  
  
Like the sound of a gun as the trigger is pulled, or a fist flying in the air before connecting with a bone and snapping it. Hell, even the sound of a blade as it punctured his chest would have been better.  
  
Instead all he hears, besides the yelling coming from his throat, is the sizzling sound of his skin, literally burning off his face by the sulfuric acid. And the faint footsteps of his attacker getting further and further away. He tries to touch his face, as if his hands can erase the damage but he can't. The pain is so strong, stronger than he has ever known in his thirty four years. More painful than any tattoo he’s ever had, more painful than the first time he bottomed for Daniel James in his second year at University and more painful than any dream death he’d ever experienced. It brings him to his knees. He screams and yells and tries to open his eyes, but all he sees is darkness. All he feels is pain. His hands finally reach his face, covering the devastation. He screams once more.


End file.
